Is capitalism on the ropes, or what? First came that embarrassing global financial crisis. Then, though the charge is dubious, the teabaggers bruised capitalism’s image by claiming that our president has abandoned it for socialism.

Now it’s taking its lumps from filmmakers: earlier this month from Michael Moore, and this week from culture-jamming performance artists the Yes Men. Writers Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (who direct, with Kurt Engfehr) stage Yippie-influenced hoaxes to point out the rapaciousness of corporations — and to offer their own, often amusing market corrections.

The most successful — like the time Bichlbaum poses as a rep from Dow Chemical and announces on the BBC that the company will pay out $12 billion to the victims of the Bhopal gas leak — put multi-nationals (or even the US government) in the crosshairs. But when the butts of the jokes are mid-level losers at meaningless conferences, the guerrilla theater seems misdirected, even cruel.

Prodding the free market Yes Man Mike Bonanno on the most fun aspect of co-directing the new documentary, The Yes Men Fix the World: “climbing into an abandoned flooded quarry in a business suit with 30 pounds of rocks in the pockets to combat buoyancy for the underwater scenes.”

Yes Men take aim at Coca-Cola An odd press conference took place last week in Post Office Square as a man claiming to be an executive at a soft-drink giant touted “a new era for Coca-Cola,” in which its Dasani bottled water will be labeled “Deception.”

Jade Garden Seafood Restaurant Ready for some reasonably priced lobster after years of paying too much? You’re in luck, since a price war seems to be unfolding on the streets of Chinatown, with various window signs advertising twin lobsters in ginger and scallion for as low as $14.95.

Thinking person’s metal Jerky’s Bar continues its hot streak of delivering quality live acts spanning all genres, and next weekend the hardcore metalheads will descend upon Richmond Street for a fistful of metalcore bands, including the much-anticipated return of former Killswitch Engage/Seemless frontman Jesse Leach.

Review: Black Dynamite His pimp hand is strong but fair. He keeps his resplendent Afro, rippling pecs, and nunchakus well-oiled. He’s Black Dynamite. In this glorious retro homage to ’70s blaxploitation cinema, director Scott Sanders isn’t so much traversing I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka territory as he is making a full-length Grindhouse spoof trailer — and doing a shockingly awesome job of it.

Review: DJ Hero Shortly after DJ Hero ’s release, a couple of craiglist ads popped up from gamers claiming they’ll plug in and play the game at your party for $75 — all you have to provide is the TV and the speakers.

Review: Pirate Radio A rusty, red-painted trawler bobs in the waves of the North Atlantic. Inside is a claustrophobic warren of rooms: tiny, brine-smelling bunks, a well-stocked bar, and, crucially, a broadcast booth, its shelves crammed with the latest 45s and LPs, its turntables manned in shifts by a motley squad of hirsute rogues.

Review: 2012 Doomsday is good therapy. What does it matter that billions die if that brings a family together in one big hug?

HIGH AND LOW CULTURE FROM JAPAN | June 02, 2010 Attention, admirers of quirky kitsch and over-the-top aesthetics: hit PAUSE on that Belle and Sebastian record for a second.

GOING FOR GOLD GLOSSARY | February 17, 2010 The Summer Olympics are fairly easy to comprehend for the average couch tuber: people running, hoisting, swimming in synch — all fairly quotidian activities.

RAINBOW NATION | January 28, 2010 After a torturous history of being treated like second-class citizens, the black population in this country stunned the world by pulling off the unimaginable: voting a black man in as president.

INTERVIEW: OZZY OSBOURNE | January 29, 2010 Long before he bit the heads off bats and doves, Ozzy Osbourne worked in a cheerless abattoir in the hardscrabble Aston section of Birmingham, England, where for 18 months he held such titles as "cow killer," "tripe hanger," "hoof puller," and "pig stunner."